Part of the Family
by LadyBaSingSe
Summary: Kataang OneShot. Katara needs to prepare for a child. She feels too young and without experience.


**A/N: I seriously have no idea where this came from. It's in honor of _The Southern Raiders_ which aired tonight. The last sentence will explain to you how if you saw TSR. xD**

**I love how they recycled Katara's Pilot Episode name and made it her mother's. That was amazing.**

**Please R&R! Thankies.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.**

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Part of the Family

The streets of Ba Sing Se were extremely busy today. Carts imported from who knows where were scattered all over the place, people were chatting along, and two girls stood in front of a large home. One stood out from the rest of the crowd; her attire was much different from the others of the grand city. Her clothing was a blue kimono and her hair was put up into a long braid, two strands of hair connecting from the front to the back. The other girl fit in quite well with her green kimono, laced up perfectly in the back. Her hair was down over her shoulders, black bangs covering her face. The only thing that separated her from the other clones of Ba Sing Se, was her eyes. They were a light shade of green, much different than the usual emerald.

The two began to walk, pacing themselves fairly slowly, and headed towards the shops of town. They had a conversation that was struck up much earlier, but only now became audible to the outside city.

"Remind me again why you want a _pet_, Katara? I just don't get it," the blind girl said, looking not quite, but almost, at the other.

The waterbender sighed heavily. "You wouldn't understand. You don't have a child," she replied skeptically.

"Well, you don't either."

Katara frowned. "I know..."

Both walked in silence for a while, making their way to the market. There were larger buildings in this part of town, towering over them both.

"Then why do you want a pet?"

Another sigh. "It's hard to explain, okay?"

"C'mon, Katara. I've got time and I'm willing to work around the rough spots. I'm an earthbender, that's what I do."

The comfort from her friend wasn't much help. It wasn't really that it was hard to explain, it was more along the lines of not wanting to. Toph would probably make fun of her and she didn't want that. She got enough of it anyway.

But, she sighed, knowing it'd come out eventually.

"Look, it's just... Aang has more experience as a father than I do. I don't want to feel like I don't know what I'm doing. He'd raised Appa since he was a little bison cub and I wanna feel at least a _little_ more prepared..."

Toph paused and let out a barking laughter.

"So you're getting a pet to prepare you for a kid? Oh spirits, that's hilarious. What'd Twinkletoes say?"

"He supports my idea, thank you very much. He said whatever I want, I can have. Whatever makes me feel more comfortable..."

Toph scoffed.

"Classic Twinkletoes. Remind me to pound his face in later for being so feminine."

"Toph, be reasonable," Katara bargained, "He doesn't deserve a beating from you just for being considerate. He knows this is a difficult thing to ponder. I mean, I'm not even twenty."

They walked down the street, the pet store less than a half a block away. Toph smirked at her friend.

"You will be in six months. Speaking of which, have you guys even gone all the way?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," she replied quickly, blushing.

The young earthbender tucked some hair behind her ear and smiled a smug smile.

"Well, being how I'm your best friend, I think I deserve a straight answer."

Katara sighed yet again.

"Fine. But I swear, Toph. You better not tell Sokka... Yes."

"Really? Huh... I expected Aang to be a little more innocent than that. How much didja have to teach him?"

Katara shook her head in a disapproving manner.

"Okay... now that's definitely none of your business," she responded, a bit aggravated and crossed her arms, "How did we get on this topic again?"

Toph shrugged.

They turned left, entering the pet store.

"What do you want anyway?" the earthbender asked, feeling the cages all over the room. Her 'vision' was blurred by the glass and metal.

"I'm not sure..." Katara replied, overlooking the animals.

There were bearded cats, hamsters, hawks, sparrowkeet, and all sorts of creatures from across the four nations. So many caught her eye, being exotic or just strange.

"Just get a cat, Katara," Toph said, sounding bored. Katara shook her head.

"Too easy to take care of... oh!" She spotted a cage to her liking. "How about a polar bear dog? I haven't seen one of these since I left the South Pole two years ago to come live here."

"A polar bear dog? Don't those things get... huge?"

Katara nodded, smiling at the little polar bear dog pup. It was white with a stripe from it's nose, down it's back. It had bright blue-gray eyes and was licking it's paw.

"That's going to cost a fortune, Katara. It's been imported. And it's going to get huge. It'll probably eat a lot... what're you gonna do with it?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "I'm getting it. She's so adorable! Plus, it'd be nice to have another girl at home."

"How'd'ya know it's a girl?"

"Male polar bear dog's have darker eyes. Usually black or deep blue," she said, watching the little cub yawn. She turned around and spotted a shop assistant. "Excuse me, sir? I'd like to buy."

He regarded her for a second and nodded. As he walked over, the waterbender pointed at the female cub recieving another nod from the man as he retrieved a key from his pocket. He opened the cage and handed her to Katara, walking over to the other edge of the store and pulling a crate from behind the counter. He opened it and helped Katara place the polar bear dog inside.

"That'll be thirty five gold pieces," the man said wearily.

Toph gaped. "Thirty five? Katara... that's... what's Aang going to say? Oh, nevermind, don't answer that. I'll get the urge to punch him again."

Katara giggled and handed over the money to the man. She grasped the handle to the crate and picked it up, walking out the door with Toph. Toph shook her head at her companion.

"You're one strange waterbender, Katara. Hey... what're you gonna name her, anyway?"

Katara glanced down into the holes of the cage, staring at the adorable animal inside. She smiled, knowing exactly what the answer was.

"Kya. For my mother."


End file.
